The 17-year-old Las Vegas driver, racing in his first road course event, was the top finishing rookie and registered his second top-five finish of the season for Bill McAnally Racing.

“We’re happy to lead the way among the BMR cars,” Herbst said. “That was cool to get our NOS Energy Drink Toyota up in the top five at Sonoma in our first start. I wish we could have got a better finish, but restarts just didn’t stack up our way.”

After starting 10th, Herbst quickly made his way to fifth. He battled back and forth throughout the race to hold the spot and try to move up.

His BMR teammate, Julia Landauer, finished 11th in the No. 54 Curb Records Toyota Camry; as she also made her first series start at Sonoma. Landauer qualified sixth and ran in the top 10 through the first half of the 64-lap race. She battled her way back to the lead pack following a spin just past the midway point, but lost several positions after a second incident late in the race.

Todd Gilliland and Chris Eggleston, who were one-two in the championship standings coming into the event, got caught up in a big pileup as the field went green to start the race. Their crews thrashed to repair the heavily damaged cars, salvaging a 24th-place finish for Gilliland in the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry and 26th for Eggleston in the No. 50 NAPA Filters/H2O Fire Protection Toyota Camry.

Gilliland – a 16-year-old NASCAR Next driver from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina – slipped to second in the championship standings. He has two wins and five top-five finishes in the first six races this season. Gilliland retained his lead in the battle for this year’s rookie title, however.

Eggleston – the defending series champion from Erie, Colorado – is third in points. He also has two wins and five top-five finishes this year.

Landauer, also a NASCAR Next driver, is sixth in the overall standings and second in rookie points. The 24-year-old New York native – who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina – has two top-five and five top-10 finishes.

Herbst is eighth in the championship standings and fourth in rookie points. He has two top-five and four top-10 finishes.

The Chevy’s Fresh Mex 200, the sixth event on a 14-race schedule, will be televised on NBCSN on June 30 at 8 p.m. PT.

The next event on the series schedule will be the Toyota / NAPA AUTO PARTS 150 at Stateline Speedway in Post Falls, Idaho on July 9.